Hi, I'm new here and wanted to share a 1/48 build of my first truely completed diorama. It's a Hobby Master JS-2 with Hobby Boss Engine parts; a Plus model building; Dartmoor figures with some Tamiya weapons; Kincali blocks; and a dioart map on the desk. I really enjoy building the Russian stuff and now I am liking dioramas too. Any comments welcome, Thanks!
I got photos uploaded to KitMaker Gallery but I'm not sure if they'll show here???

why dont you have pictures ? its hard to imagine someones description of a diorama.

Hi Greg

nice work, but you really should post the pix in the thread:









cheers

Steffen

its a good job,
i dont know much about the damage done to the tanks with that weapon, but it looks a little weird.
the "main impact" was obviously at the back, but then why are ALL the wheels blown off ? wouldnt only that back wheels be affected?

anyways,
nice build

Hi, I agree the damage to the vehicle may be a little too much, but your figure painting and overall building is really nice. I like the idea of this dio. Well Done and Keep On Modelin!!!
milvehfan

Good Job, I will also have to agree with every one else though, to much damage in to many places from just one Panzerfaust. Camo Smock on Soldiers are really good. Are they Waffen SS? The camo is SS. I think? Also the ruble is very realistic.

thxs,
John

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p63/GregHessig/JS-2BERLIN1945001.jpg
Hi all, I got the blown tank idea from the Concord book, "Stalin's Heavy Tanks 41-45" on page 56 it looked like a tank destroyed by an internal explosion of its own ammunition maybe? I hope my pic of the page works this time

The smock is the Spring pattern from the reversible types worn by infantry and SS. I could have gone with the latter "Pea" pattern though. I painted the smocks with Vallejo acrylics: US tan-earth, US dark green, German Camo Dark Green and Camo Bright green. I used white to lighten some of the greens.

I had fun making this and already thinking of the next one.
Thanks for all the help and comments,
Greg Hessig

https://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p63/GregHessig/JS-2BERLIN1945001.jpg

...and then he shows an actual picture...
ah,the pitfalls of criticism

Right! That was a good one!

Nice build and dio I have to say. Looks nicely done and I like the overall setting... especially since it is after an actual pic!

I like it. I didn't think the damage was overdone. All sorts of things happen to tanks, besides I've never been in a war.

I would disagree that the photos show a heavily destroyed tank from a internal explosion. Considering the ammo layout of the JSII, if there was enough OOMPH to blow out the roadwheels, then there would be a LOT more damage to the hull and turret.

The photo shows a tank that was knocked out in Berlin, in this case in the US/British portion. This particular tank was shipped back to the US for intelligence gathering, so it is probably being disassembled as the photos are taken.

Now that I have made my comments, nice work. The idea and layout are very nice and the workmanship is commendable. It is a believeable work of art!

Hey, thanks again for the nice comments everyone. I like these kinds of discussions because it's a chance for me to learn something new. The wiki-up encyclopedia website has a few great articles on panzerfausts and I would encourage people to check it out.

I don't know where JS-2 ammo is stored (hull; hull & turret; etc) but if it was in the floor I thought this would be a logical explosion. I only have this other picture that shows a JS-2 having a bad day. Hatches/panels are opened up and at least the right rear wheel missing. All tracks are in pieces too. If they were disassembling the tank in the previous photo, then why would they remove so many small track pieces rather than longer lengths? My other question is would it make it easier to move this tank off the road without the wheels? It also states only the turret was sent for examination. I mean no offense but just trying to solve the picture puzzle
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p63/GregHessig/JS-2BERLIN1945FINAL029.jpg

Remember, it was US GI's taking that JS-II apart, probably before the Military Intelligence people showed up.

No, the whole thing was removed and taken to Aberdeen to be studied. Why it looks the way it does is because it is in Berlin just after the surrender.

Even the photo you showed of the heavily abused JS-II does not show a great amount of overall destruction (the engine is still in the bay etc...)

And tracks, when they throw, really go to hell. Ask me how I know...

Hi Jacques, I read your profile and see you served the same years I did. I was in the Army Reserves as a E-5 91B (medic) and 91L (occupational therapist asst). I did a couple months of basic at Ft Knox but only saw the running tanks as we marched around.

I'm still bewildered by the photo as some of the wheel Axles are also missing. Hatches and scopes and everything missing. You're saying GI's jacked up both sides of the tank and removed the wheels and axles in some places? Why would GI's bother with this?
Anyone have other pics of wrecks in this condition?

I agree I should have had more engine in the compartment on my model. Thanks for the tip.

Salute!

I guess my real question is, "Do wheels come off tanks when hit?"

or is it only if the wheel is directly hit?

Thanks again, Greg

A few more pics and descriptions at this website but who knows sources these days?

http://www.battlefield.ru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=44&lang=en

I did my time, Basic and AIT, at Ft. Sill. Loved the place, hated the DI's! Probably would have been happier being a combat medic and doing my time at Ft. Sam Houston!

They are not axel, per se, but road wheel armatures. And they are indeed tough to remove or destroy...they have to be as they have a whole tank riding on them. Things that remove Road Wheel arms are direct gun fire from tanks, Mines, and scrounging.

I have a photo of some SU-100's that were shot up in a line by German forces and the locals had stripped the road wheels off the wrecks within 24hrs to use as wagon wheels etc... Given the state of Berlin at the end, yeah, people find a way to get what they want. I am guessing locals were working on scavanging rather than GI's, but then again, this was the only Russian tank the GI's could actually mess with and we Americans are notorious souvenier hunters...

I would not feel one bit bad with how you did your dio though...there is no reason to believe it could not be as depicted...just not typical.

OK, thanks for all your help and time Jacques,
6 months AIT at Ft Sam Houston was pretty cool. We'd go to the Riverwalk and discover the Airforce guys had weekends off during Bootcamp! I also got 2 months OJT at Ft. Jackson, SC; and Ft.Lewis Washington for the NCO course. I drove all the wheeled 5-tons, deuces 1/2, and Hummvee/cutvees but no tracks . I wanted an armor MOS, but my friends said I better pick something I can do when I get out of the military so I guess they were right. Now my models suffer for it

I have a KV-85 ready for paint and trying to figure out a couple other tanks that could match with it to do an armored column going past abandoned German vehicles and guns. I'm debating between T-34/85 & 76's or Su-122 & Su-152, but I believe the assault guns usually stuck to themselves or T-34's. I'll be sure to check carefully through some pics but I like doing the unusual

Cheers and Happy 4th!
Greg

Nice dio. Tank looks like one in photo...nice job with whole set. Keep up the work.

Yeah, I heard Ft. Sam Houston was a nice place to be as well for female companionship. I was a Foward Observer for Artillery (13F) and BT and AIT was tough. They had a 70% pass rating for PT AND we were all humping 75lb rucks on roadmarches and stuff...this was all before 9/11 so it was considered way outside the lines then.

I did NCO school at Ft. Jackson (I was in the Nat. Guard) and all my other training, including tracked vehicle recovery specialist training (63D - 2nd MOS) was at Camp Ripley in MN. The 63D training gave me the best working relationship with tracked vehicles because I had to learn to use not only the recovery vehicles, but also the vehicles I would recover and it put me in the motor pool area where with the grease monkeys so I got to see the stripped down and opened up vehicles.

Enough on that. With a KV-85, your best bet would be something like a GAZ jeep or another KV-85. In reality the Russians had different regiments with different responsabilities...and they kept them "pure". Heavy tank regiments (KV's and JS') were kept seperate from medium tank regiments (T-34's) and assualt gun regiments (SU-122, ISU-152/122, SU-100). However, it is always possible that some units would cross-connect, but they would be from different regiments. So long as they were marked that way, you could put any of several vehicles together on a dio.

I would suggest using a natural choke-point to have a visual reason why the vehicles were intermingled, like a bridge etc..

Also, KV-85's were short run and short lived in Russian service, especially compared to other vehicles. If you were to mix then with other tanks, I would do it with either a T-34/76 or a SU-122.

Hope that helps you out.

Great work!Hessig!!well done!!